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This icebox cake is the perfect summer treat! It’s a completely no-bake masterpiece, complete with layers of graham cracker squares, homemade banana rum spiked whipped cream, and silky swirls of dulce de leche. Cover the entire thing in more whipped cream and top with dulce de leche dipped banana slices for a dessert like none other!
This post is sponsored by our friends at Blue Chair Bay! All opinions are my own. Thanks for supporting the brands that make Blue Bowl possible.
In case you’ve never heard of an icebox cake (I think it’s a Midwestern thing. Can anyone out there confirm that for me? Heh), I’ll explain. It’s a super simple dessert made from layers of graham crackers and whipped cream, and sometimes a third element. In this case, it’s dulce de leche. When you assemble the cake and refrigerate it for a few hours, the graham crackers soften, giving the texture of very thin layers of cake. It’s the perfect warm-weather treat, because you don’t have to turn on the oven!
Plus, it packs a big visual punch. You can totallyyyy trick people into thinking you meticulously baked 12 tiny, perfectly even cake layers, a la the Great British Baking show.
How to Make an Icebox Cake:
Let’s learn how to make one of these! You need only a handful of ingredients – heavy cream mixed with a little powdered sugar and vanilla, Blue Chair Bay Banana Rum Cream, a can of dulce de leche, and graham crackers! Grab a couple bananas for topping the cake too, if you’d like.
First up, add the rum, heavy cream, vanilla, and sugar to a large bowl and mix until stiff peaks form – congrats, you just made homemade whipped cream!
Next, line your serving plate with wax or parchment paper, and begin building your cake layers. Spread a small spoonful of of dulce de leche, then a generous spoonful of whipped cream onto the graham cracker, place it face up, and repeat, building a tower. You’ll need 3 rows of about 12 crackers each. Make shorter stacks and then stand them up on your plate to build your cake.
Don’t be afraid to be generous with the filling – if it’s poking out of the edges of the crackers like this, you’re doing it right!
Chill this in the freezer for about 20 minutes, and then spread the remaining whipped cream all around the top and sides of the cake. Pop it in the fridge and let it chill at least 2 hours before serving, or up to overnight. That’s it! A simple and quick recipe that you’ll be making over and over again this summer.
And just look at those gorgeous layers! Icebox cakes are definitely underrated, in my opinion. Anything that doesn’t require me to turn my oven on in our non-air conditioned apartment is a giantt win!
Happy non-Baking, friends!
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Banana Rum Dulce de Leche Icebox Cake
Ingredients
For the Banana Rum Whipped Cream
- 2 cups heavy cream, cold
- 1/2 cup Blue Chair Bay Banana Rum Cream, cold
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp powdered gelatin, see note below
- 4 tsp cold water
For the Rest of the Icebox Cake
- 1 can dulce de leche
- 36 graham cracker squares, squares as in, half of a sheet - so 18 sheets
- 1-2 bananas, sliced, optional, for decorating
Instructions
- Prep: Line your serving platter/plate with wax paper or parchment paper. Make sure your rum has chilled. Get your graham crackers ready and open your can of dulce de leche. If you want to stabilize the whipped cream (See Note Below): Add the powdered gelatin to a small bowl and add the water on top. Don't stir, but swish it around so the gelatin is covered. Let sit 5 minutes (it'll be super thick) then microwave for 6-8 seconds, just until it has liquified. Set aside.
- Make the Banana Rum Whipped Cream: Add the heavy cream, Banana Rum Cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla to a large mixing bowl. Mix on high speed with an electric mixer until the cream begins to thicken. Continue mixing, and pour the gelatin mixture in to the bowl in a slow stream. Continue mixing just until stiff peaks form.
- Assemble the Icebox Cake: Spread a spoonful of dulce de leche onto a graham cracker square (half of a full graham cracker sheet). Add a generous spoonful of whipped cream on top. Repeat this, placing one coated graham cracker on top of the previous until you have a tower that's 6 pieces tall. Flip this on it's side and place it on your tray. See photos above if you need help visualizing this. Repeat this to finish the row - it should have 12 graham crackers, with the outside ends having nothing on them. Repeat this two more times so that you have 3 rows with 12 graham pieces in each. If any of your rows don't line up perfectly, you can always add another coated graham where needed. Chill this in the freezer for 20 minutes. Cover the remaining whipped cream with a kitchen towel, and pop it in the fridge while the cake chills. Cover the icebox cake with the remaining whipped cream.
- Chill, Serve, + Store: Chill for at least 2 hours and up to overnight before serving. This gives the graham crackers time to soften, making it a true icebox cake. Decorate with banana slices dipped in leftover dulce de leche just before serving. Cut into slices, and enjoy! Leftovers can be kept in the fridge, tightly covered, for up to 4 days.
